Friday, July 18, 2014

National Zoo Keeper Week Books Review

Happy National Zoo Keeper Week! In honor I have a very special review and giveaway that celebrates zoos and zoo keeper and their dedication to animal care, conservation and education. Check out my review of two great books: The Zoo is Closed Today and At the Zoo Scratch and Sketch: An art activity book for Animal Lovers.

Here's a brief description of two books that will your little ones are sure to go "wild" over and are great companions to your summer outing to your local zoo!

About these Books!

The Zoo is Closed Today written by Evelyn Beilenson, illustrated by Anne Kennedy:

It was a warm sunny day
with not much to do.
So Sue and John walked
to the Kalamazoo.

But when John and Sue arrive at the zoo, they are in for a big surprise! What is wrong with all of the animals? From Edward the elephant to Marcel the monkey, the animals have tummy aches and toothaches, runny noses and sore throats. Pete the zookeeper can barely keep up with taking care of them and has to close the zoo. And the next day, John and Sue are in for an even bigger surprise! This charming tale, illustrated with humor and warmth, demonstrates the value of sweet friendship.

At The Zoo Scratch & Sketch: An Art Activity Book for Animal Lovers by Lee Nemmers, illustrated by Martha Day Zschock

This fun and easy Trace-Along art activity book allows budding artists (5 and up) to use the wooden drawing tool enclosed to trace the white outlines of favorite animals on black-coated scratch art pages. Kids will be delighted to see lions, tigers, bears, seals, and more come alive in swirls of colors and glittery foil! They can also use the sketch pages in the back to draw their own pictures of favorite animals. At the Zoo Scratch & Sketch Art Activity Book includes a wooden stylus for drawing on black-coated paper to reveal glittering, gleaming colors beneath, wire-o-bound hardcover binding and 20 scratch off, 20 illustrated and 20 sketch pages.

The Review:

From the minute I pulled out the At the Zoo Scratch & Sketch my sons (ages 10 and 9) were fighting over who got to do which page. Needless to say, it was a huge hit and hours of fun for the boys. My girls would have enjoyed it too but they claimed it as their book. The only thing the boys did not like is there was not a lot of variety in the colors on each page. Also the lines for the animals completely disappeared and you could no longer tell what the animals were after you scratched them up.

Since the boys were the first ones with the other book the girls (ages 7 and 5) were the first ones to get to try out the book The Zoo is Closed Today. It's readable at age 7 but you will have to offer some reading clues to help. I loved the rhyme. The ailments and treatments for the animals were quite hilarious to the girls and they enjoyed the book. It does have a silly ending.